There are over 950 favela's in Rio.  And today I visited Rocihna which is the largest favela in Rio and the 2nd largest in all of Brazil.  Favela's are essentially illegal settlements of folks all crammed together on the hills surrounding the flatter lands in Rio.  Rocinha is spread over the mountains facing the see where down in front of them is one of the wealthiest communities in all of Rio sitting on the beach.  There are 70,000 people living in 4 kilometers in Rocinha.  

Favelas are operated under the control of drug cartels.  The three major cartels in Rio are 1. Red Command 2. Friends of Friends 3. 3rd Command.  For years the government had chosen to turn a relatively blind eye to the favelas letting the cartels do what they wanted with the drugs and policing of the favelas until the violence became so great.  These cartels have incredible violence between each other as they strive to increase their territory.  Drugs are largely sold to the middle class and wealthy elite in Brazil.  The drug dealers in some ways provide the poor in the favelas with cheaper access to basic needs by allowing pirating of electricity in the Favelas, pirating of cable, and some access to healthcare in exchange for the people staying quite about the drug activity.  

In 2010 when the violence became so great the Brazilian military chose to finally step in and try to subdue the favelas…also there was heightened concern from the world's perspective with considering letting Brazil host the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016.  The government's plan was to put military police in each favela to pacify and subdue the drug cartels…in reality many come and in operate the drug cartel, rape the women or steal from the dealers.  Police presence is permanent in the favelas where the UPP's have come in. (Unidade de Policia Pacidicara)  Once the government comes in folks must get meters for electricity, bills for cable, etc.  This can make life impossible for the poorest of the poor in Rio because they can not afford these things…where they could with the cartels now they can't with the government.  After 3 years there are no more than 39 favelas that have a police presence…but no one is calling them truly pacified yet!

On Monday in Rocinha there were two police killed in a drug shoot out.  Many have said there is a war going on in the favelas.  Watch "City of God" if you want to know more about the drug world in the Favelas.

This is Rocihna --- it is actually much larger looking than this panoramic!  Way down on the coast is all the wealth…the mountain to the right that is hidden in the clouds is the tallest coastal mountain in the world!

Here is a close up of the coast in front of Rocinha.

Closer shots of what the dwellings in favelas actually look like situated on the mountain side.

 I learned today that what you see is not at all, all that there is.  These steps lead down into the heart of the favela where the doors to homes are, where laundry is hung out to dry, where pets sleep outside doorways, etc.  It is the inner workings…inner passage ways of the favela.  

See how close everything is built to each other…but is all connected if you know the way.

Inside the favela's you will find all that you need…open air meat markets, 

Spices, herbs and plants…they have small stores or vendors for everything.  If you have money to buy of course.

You are not allowed to take pictures of police here…so I took a selfie instead and just happened to capture a shot of the armed police with bullet proof vests.  One carries an automatic rifle and the others carry pistols…and they aren't holstered.

I also spent time yesterday learning about Methodists in Brazil…interesting they aren't Untied Methodists they are autonomous.  Which means that we share much in common but in Brazil the Methodist as a institution have become very conservative and not willing to work with ecumenical groups…they have actually pulled out of the National Council of Churches because they didn't want to be at the table with Catholics.  Pretty disappointing…even to some of the Methodists we talked with here.  There is great division in Brazil at times over religion…problems between Catholics and Protestants, problems between Pentecostals and other denominations, problems with Condomble (African spiritualism) and Christians, etc.

And then we also began to learn about the influence of the slave trade in Brazil.  Brazil is the second country with the most Africans…it only follows after Nigeria.  Brazil had about 10xs the number of slaves as North America…they were the number 1 trader of slaves.  I will share more about how this absolutely shapes and affects their economic class structure and racism in another post as I learn more.

Whew -- yesterday was a long day with lots of learning!